Land Snails

Photos: Image not available at this time

Zoogenetes harpa (Say, 1824)

Family: Valloniidae
Common name: Boreal Top

Identification
Width: ~2.5 mm
Height: ~3.25 mm
Whorls: ~4

The shell of Zoogenetes harpa is ovate-conical, adorned with thin, widely-spaced ribs (Pilsbry, 1948). Colored brownish-green and somewhat glossy, the shell is narrowly umbilicate with an oval aperture.

Ecology
Zoogenetes harpa is found in damp leaf litter and moss near lakes and swamps according to Hubricht, (1985). However, in northeastern Maine, Nekola (2008) found it most often in upland habitat at sedimentary rock outcrops, aspen forest, and white spruce forest.

Taxonomy
Synonyms are Helix harpa, Acanthinula harpa, Zoögenites harpa (Pilsbry, 1948). Its common name in Swedish is blåbärssnäcka.

Distribution
Zoogenetes harpa is circumpolar. In Europe it occurs in Scandinavia and Switzerland (Bank and Ramos, 2016). In Russia in the Caucasus Mountains (Balashov and Kijashko. 2017). In North America it is found in Labrador, New England from Massachusetts and Vermont north, also in the upper Midwest, and in the West to Alaska and as far south as Colorado (Pilsbry, 1948).

Conservation
NatureServe Rank: G5, Secure.

 

Ken Hotopp 11/2017

Range Map (click to enlarge)